Sunday’s WEC 46 is a 36-24-36

The word “stacked” gets tossed around more than a bimbo at a Hell’s Angels rally. One MMA website (which shall remain nameless) even said last Saturday’s UFC 108 was stacked. (For the record, it wasn’t stacked, but in retrospect it exceeded expectations in terms of entertainment; hindsight is 20/20 and all that.) But Sunday’s WEC 46 is certainly that, the Playboy Playmate of fight cards.

The headliner is a lightweight title unification bout between a pair of Energizer Bunnies, champ Jamie Varner and interim champ Ben Henderson. Varner’s a serious striker who’s been sidelined with an emergency room full of injuries since he beat Donald Cerrone last January. Varner took an illegal knee to the noggin in the fifth round and won the fight on the scorecards and also suffered a broken hand and foot in the process. Bendo, meanwhile, hasn’t lost in more than three years. He scrapped his way to the interim belt against Cerrone in October in the most exciting fight of 2009, surviving bone-splintering submissions while dropping bombs from within Cerrone’s guard.

Also on the card are two former WEC featherweight champions, Urijah Faber and Mike Brown. Faber and Brown clashed at June’s WEC 41 – Faber busted both hands in the first round and still gutted it out to a five-round decision that saw Brown capture the belt. Now Faber will face highly touted Muay Thai fighter and BJJ black belt Raphael Assuncao in a guaranteed barnburner.

Brown lost the belt to Jose Aldo in November so it’s a safe bet he feels he has something to prove when he steps in against WEC newcomer Anthony Morrison.

Further down the card you’ll find Dave Jansen and Kamal Shalorus both battling to remain undefeated (and to move a step closer to the lightweight title) while two featherweight grapplers with big names – Macken Semerzier and Deividas Taurosevicius – will likely stand and bang (cuz that’s what two grapples often do when they face off).

Hopefully, an undercard bout or two will find its way onto the broadcast, as jiu-jitsu ace Wagnney Fabiano looks to bounce back from a shocking submission loss to Semerzier when he meets Clint Godfrey; Shawn Tompkins-trained striker Mark Hominick faces Bryan Caraway; Akitoshi Tamura meets Charlie Valencia; George Roop takes on Eddie Wineland; and Will Campuzano takes on Coty Wheeler.

Now all that needs to happen is for the card to live up to its on-paper potential.